Carmen Elongated Sweet Pepper OG

(70 days) F-1 hybrid. Johnny’s debuted Carmen in 2006 to much critical acclaim, including a coveted AAS. So good, this pepper may still be as widely grown in 140 years as Bizet’s 1875 opera Carmen is performed now. A classic Italian Corno di Toro type, Carmen features unusually sweet horn-shaped tapered pointed 2½x6" fruits averaging 5 oz that won rave reviews from all seven of our tasters. (How often does that happen at Fedco?) Great for salads, especially as they ripen from green to deep carmine, with good sweet flavor. Walls are only medium-thick, so take care not to get them overly charred when roasting. Upright medium-sized plants with excellent protective canopy. Widely adapted and early maturing in its class. Bizet’s Carmen was a beautiful gypsy with a fiery temper responsible for the downfall of many men. Johnny’s Carmen is equally tempting (“fruity,” “nutty,” “sweet with a hint of spice”) though with much more salutary results. ③

Additional Information

Peppers

Capsicum annuum

For all peppers, days to full-color maturity are from transplanting date.

~160 seeds/g. Capsicum comes from the Greek kapto which means ‘bite.’

Culture: Very tender, will not tolerate frost, dislike wind, will not set fruit in cold or extremely hot temperatures or in drought conditions. Start indoors in March or April. Set out in June. Black plastic highly recommended. Row cover improves fruit set in windy spots. Pick first green peppers when they reach full size to increase total yield significantly. Green peppers, though edible, are not ripe. Peppers ripen to red, yellow, orange, etc.

Minimum germination soil temperature 60°, optimal range 68-95°.

Diseases:

BLS: Bacterial Leaf Spot

CMV: Cucumber Mosaic Virus

TMV: Tobacco Mosaic Virus

Seed-saving tips: Use only the first fruits for seed; allow only 3–4 fruits per plant to grow and remove all others. Fewer fruits = larger seeds = greater seed viability. Later fruits often have germination rates of only 60%.